Fonseca lives up to hype, blasts past Hurkacz for maiden Roland-Garros win

Brazilian Joao Fonseca advanced to the second round of Roland-Garros by No 30 seed Hubert Hurkacz 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 at Roland-Garros in Paris on Tuesday evening.

When the Roland-Garros draw was released late last week, Fonseca vs Hurkacz was one of the most anticipated first-round matches, given the Brazilian’s rapid rise up the rankings this year and Hurkacz’s recent run in Geneva.

While the contest certainly delivered the upset that Brazilian fans hoped it would, it wasn’t much of a spectacle, with the 18-year-old dominating across all metrics against a below-par Hurkacz.

“My first time playing here at the main draw for Roland Garros,” Fonseca declared after the match. “I really enjoyed. Just [a] dream come true to achieve the round two.”

Fonseca’s win comes after a quiet clay season so far, with the teen losing three matches in a row across Madrid, Estoril and Rome.

He hit the ground running on Tuesday, however, striking 36 winners to just 15 unforced errors against Hurkacz, who made 29 winners and 20 unforced errors. Surprisingly, it was Fonseca who had the upper-hand serving as well, making 72 percent of his first serves and winning 78 percent, compared to Hurkacz’s figures of 65 percent and 67 percent.

Fonseca, ranked No 65, will play wildcard Pierre-Hugues Herbert next.

Redemption for Joao

As has become commonplace across the ATP Tour this year, Brazilian fans swarmed to see Fonseca in action, with enormous lines to access Court 7 all day.

For Fonseca, he shared after the match that his success in front of such a crowd was redemption for his last experience on Court 7, which wasn’t such a successful outing.

“I knew when I was walking to the court, and I saw even the line was just huge to go to enter the court, and the people on Philippe Chatrier, Suzanne Lenglen watching, just remember deja vu because I played on this court against (Gabriel) Debru in the quarters (of the Roland-Garros Juniors) in 2022.

“I lost the match, and it was really nice to be there again and perform really well on this amazing stadium with the crowd.”

Lessons around expectation and pressure

Fonseca also shared that he has had to learn quickly to navigate the pressure that comes with such a following, confessing that the height of expectation got to him during his recent tournaments.

“The expectations are going to come,” he said. “People are going to talk. Compare with other people, other players. It’s normal. You need to deal with it.

“The last few tournaments I got into pressure, was not feeling very well on court, feel a little bit more tense and did not enjoying very much.

“It’s just good to be with good people that can help me to stay, to be with a good mentality that I needed to. I need to do the best that I can improve my routines, stay with good people, stay healthy, and not focusing on the expectations.

“I’m young, and I’m getting the experience of everything now. So I’m learning a lot from this circuit and this environment that’s going to come a lot of expectations.

“I think my mentality is really good. It’s difficult to play on those kind of tournaments with this environment and with a lot of expectations young.

“Now I’m feeling very comfortable. I’m feeling very happy on court. Happy and playing good.”

Paris (Grand Slam), other first-round results (Roland-Garros, clay, EUR 56.352.000, most recent results first):

• Gael Monfils vs. Hugo Dellien: tuesday
• Corentin Moutet beat Clement Tabur (Q): 6-3, 7-6 (6), 6-3
• Flavio Cobolli beat Marin Cilic (LL): 6-2, 6-1, 6-3
• Matteo Arnaldi beat Felix Auger-Aliassime (29): 5-7, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
• Jack Draper (5) beat Mattia Bellucci: 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2
• Andrey Rublev (17) beat Lloyd Harris (Q): 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1
• Novak Djokovic (6) beat Mackenzie McDonald: 6-3, 6-3, 6-3
• Henrique Rocha (Q) beat Nikoloz Basilashvili (Q): 7-6, 2-6, 7-6 (9), 2-6, 6-2
• Pierre-Hugues Herbert beat Benjamin Bonzi: 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2
• Adam Walton beat Maximilian Marterer (Q): 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2
• Jakub Mensik (19) beat Alexandre Muller: 7-5, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-3
• Jesper De Jong beat Francesco Passaro: 3-6, 6-7 (7), 6-4, 7-6 (1), 6-1
• Alexander Zverev (3) beat Learner Tien: 6-3, 6-3, 6-4
• Alexander Bublik beat James Duckworth: 6-2, 6-4, 6-4
• Ethan Quinn (Q) beat Grigor Dimitrov (16): 2-6, 3-6, 6-2 ret.
• Federico Agustin Gomez (LL) beat Aleksandar Kovacevic: 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-1
• Cameron Norrie beat Daniil Medvedev (11): 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 1-6, 7-5
• Alexander Shevchenko (LL) beat Dusan Lajovic: 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (4)
• Alex De Minaur (9) beat Laslo Djere: 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (6)
• Jannik Sinner (1) beat Arthur Rinderknech: 6-4, 6-3, 7-5
• Tallon Griekspoor beat Marcos Giron: 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5
• Jaume Munar beat Camilo Ugo Carabelli: 6-4, 6-1, 7-5
• Ugo Humbert (22) beat Christopher O’Connell: 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (3)
• Filip Misolic (Q) beat Yunchaokete Bu: 5-7, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4), 6-1
• Arthur Fils (14) beat Nicolas Jarry: 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3
• Denis Shapovalov (27) beat Pedro Martinez Portero: 6-2, 6-0, 6-3
• Richard Gasquet (WC) beat Terence Atmane (WC): 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0
• Sebastian Ofner beat Jan-Lennard Struff: 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2
• Gabriel Diallo beat Francisco Cerundolo (18): 7-5, 6-3, 6-4
• Jiri Lehecka beat Jordan Thompson: 6-4, 6-2, 6-1
• Karen Khachanov (24) beat Aleksandar Vukic: 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
• Jacob Fearnley beat Stan Wawrinka (WC): 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-2
• Holger Rune (10) beat Roberto Bautista Agut: 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-3, 6-2
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (20) beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry: 7-5, 6-3, 6-4
• Daniel Altmaier beat Taylor Fritz (4): 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (26) beat Pablo Llamas Ruiz (Q): 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3
• Carlos Alcaraz (2) beat Giulio Zeppieri (Q): 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
• Hugo Gaston beat Ugo Blanchet (Q): 2-6, 6-0, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
• Alexei Popyrin (25) beat Yoshihito Nishioka: 7-5, 6-4, 1-2 ret.
• Alejandro Tabilo beat Arthur Cazaux (WC): 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 1-6, 6-3
• Casper Ruud (7) beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas (Q): 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
• Sebastian Korda (23) beat Luciano Darderi: 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
• Miomir Kecmanovic beat Sebastian Baez: 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2, 6-2
• Nuno Borges beat Kyrian Jacquet (Q): 3-6, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-3, 6-3
• Quentin Halys beat Tomas Machac (21): 7-6 (4), 4-1 ret.
• Ben Shelton (13) beat Lorenzo Sonego: 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3
• Jenson Brooksby beat Jaime Faria: 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
• Emilio Nava (WC) beat Botic van de Zandschulp: 6-2, 7-5, 7-5
• Matteo Gigante (Q) beat Benjamin Hassan (Q): 6-4, 6-2, 6-0
• Fabian Marozsan beat Luca Nardi: 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (3)
• Frances Tiafoe (15) beat Roman Safiullin: 6-4, 7-5, 6-4
• Juan Manuel Cerundolo (Q) beat Alex Michelsen (32): 6-3, 6-2, 6-4
• Daniel Elahi Galan (LL) beat Valentin Royer (WC): 7-6 (6), 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (4), 7-5
• Lorenzo Musetti (8) beat Yannick Hanfmann (Q): 7-5, 6-2, 6-0
• Vit Kopriva beat Thiago Monteiro: 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (6), 6-1
• Damir Dzumhur beat Thiago Agustin Tirante (LL): 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5
• Pablo Carreno Busta beat Francisco Comesana: 6-2, 7-6 (3), 7-5
• Reilly Opelka beat Rinky Hijikata: 1-6, 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (3)
• Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (31) beat Zizou Bergs: 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-4
• Tommy Paul (12) beat Elmer Moller (LL): 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3, 6-1
• Hamad Medjedovic beat Kamil Majchrzak: 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (2)
• Marton Fucsovics beat Tristan Schoolkate (WC): 6-4, 6-2, 6-2
• Mariano Navone beat Brandon Nakashima (28): 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-1, 6-2